


dancing lights

by flickeringspook



Series: Aurelia [1]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types, Forgotten Realms
Genre: Drow, Drow Culture, Dungeons & Dragons Character Backstory, Gen, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, chaotic good drow community, surface drow, well--mentions of drow culture, wild magic sorcerery can be a struggle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:42:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27678251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flickeringspook/pseuds/flickeringspook
Summary: His peers were, for lack of a better term, put-off by him. Not frightened, really, but they avoided him. He was beginning to suspect that the disastrous results of his spell-casting was only the tip of the iceberg atop a mountain of behavior they deemed strange and rightful of very subtle shunning.A snippet of Aurelia's childhood. Wild magic goes awry, Aurelia runs off into the woods, and his kind older sister goes to check on him.
Series: Aurelia [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2023997
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	dancing lights

**Author's Note:**

> context: Aurelia was my very first D&D characters, and one of the characters dearest to my heart even still! This is a scene from his backstory. He is a wild magic sorcerer (with a few levels in bard, eventually--he plays the ocarina). 
> 
> This story is set in the world of the Forgotten Realms, and of course very inspired/intertwined with 5e canon. Aurelia's community fled the Underdark and live on the surface, in a forest settlement on the Sword Coast called 'Dark Maiden's Leap' (credit for that name goes to my partner~!) somewhat close to Silverymoon. 
> 
> This particular work doesn't involve any canonical NPCs from D&D 5e, but makes use of the Forgotten Realms world/lore and mentions Eilistraee very often, so I thought I'd share it here!

“ _ Aurelia! _ ” 

The deep shout of his father echoed from the center of their makeshift village. Aurelia was already far enough for Asa’s voice to be muffled through the thick foliage, but his father still called after him for a few minutes. 

No where would be far enough away, not unless he went all the way to the nearby elven settlement (which wouldn’t be out of the question, necessarily) so he chose a nice tree with low, thick branches, and scrambled up into the mossy crook of it. He peered into the darkness, trying to catch his breath. 

The village itself was as a part of the trees as any animal’s nest or den, but Aurelia took comfort in the forest which surrounded and encompassed Moonwood. It felt like the trees and grass and the moon—tied to Eilastraee as it was—all understood him better than his own people did.

He couldn’t see the moon where he was, huddled under a canopy of thick leaves and twisting branches. But the damp moss against his bare feet and the scrape of bark against his hands reminded him he was safe.

It was a day like any other—well, a night, he supposed. Being on the surface necessitated a nocturnal lifestyle for drow, or at least that was the solution his people had come up with thus far. 

So it was a night like any other, full of lessons and structure. This particular night they were practicing their magic and well, Aurelia could  _ cast,  _ had cast spells before however faint and weak they were, but those were all cantrips. Their instructor, Rize, wanted them to practice ‘first level spells’ or something of the like again, which was decidedly Aurelia’s least favorite.

Something always happened when he tried his hands at spells with any real force behind them. He poisoned a classmate once when they were just trying to summon dancing lights. This time, he sent three glowing darts off that left scorch marks on the thin wood of the makeshift ‘schoolhouse’ (nearly setting it ablaze, but Rize willed the fire away quickly) and, more critically, catching a classmate square in the back and almost sending them unconscious.

Still clutching the phosphorus rock he had been using as a spell component, Aurelia tore off from the classroom before he could even see if Rize had managed to heal the child.

Aurelia had never yet felt so ill at his own actions. He wasn’t sure if the other child—Ildan—would be alright and he was petrified at the thought that maybe they weren’t, maybe he had finally done something that couldn’t be fixed.

That’s the only reason his father would be calling after him so relentlessly. But as he sat there, his breathing finally steady, matted white hair falling in front of his face, he realized the voice had long since stopped. Now he was left with nothing but his thoughts, just a frightened screw-up of a boy who had run away yet again.

His peers were, for lack of a better term, put-off by him. Not frightened, really, but they avoided him. He was beginning to suspect that the disastrous results of his spell-casting was only the tip of the iceberg atop a mountain of behavior they deemed strange and rightful of very subtle shunning.

So, he liked biology and nature and alchemy—he liked frightening stories and was convinced he saw ghosts in the trees, he wandered off and had an aversion to traditional methods of learning, his musical skills were falling behind from lack of discipline, and he overheard his mother defend him by explaining his ‘lack of social awareness’—fine. All well and good. But he thought he might find one other person his age who would enjoy his presence by now, not just his teacher and his elder sister.

As if on cue, a soft but commanding voice whispered through the wood:

“‘Relia?”

“Leave me, Aefir,” Aurelia moaned, not bothering to look down. “I’m giving myself back to the earth.”

“Oh, so that’s how it’s going to be, is it?” Aefir sounded playful, clearly trying to lighten his mood. “I’ve lost my only brother to the agony of adolescence, and yet you’ve barely outgrown your baby face! Such a lonely world I live in now…”

“Shouldn’t you be with the priestesses?” 

“I called a break when I heard my beloved brother set fire to the schoolhouse again.” Aefir hauled herself up the tree with ease, despite the long and intricate robes she donned.

Aurelia finally turned to face her, snapping before he could stop himself.

“It’s not like I meant to!” As soon as the words left him, he grimaced, inwardly scolding himself for his temper. He leaned back against the old tree’s sturdy base, exhausted with himself and with the situation as a whole.

But Aefir looked delighted.

“That’s the fiery spirit I so love to see!”

“I don’t think Asa would agree with you.”

Aefir pouted, slinging an arm around her little brother’s thin shoulders.

“You can call him father, you know,” she said, as gently as she could muster. “And that’s just because he’s used to men being quiet, unseen—all captains of the guard and concubines, servants and fighters and not much else.” She smiled at him proudly, “but you’re a new kind of drow! And I for one find your reckless nature quite refreshing.”

“Oh, thank you,” Aurelia droned, unconvinced. Still, he rested his head on his sister, quietly relieved for her company. 

“Ildan is fine, by the way,” Aefir said, voice gentle and low once again. “Maybe a bit shaken, but it looks as though you’ve suffered just as much.” 

“I’ve suffered none! It was a powerful spell, and I’m sure there will be a scar.” It made him sick to imagine little Ildan with the phantom pains of this incident.

“No, no, I think Rize caught it in time.” Aefir sighed with great drama, shifting Aurelia with her movements. “I can see that your self-deprecation has no end today. I suppose I have no choice but to drag you back myself.”

Aurelia’s eyes went wide, but caught within her grasp as he was, he couldn’t even stare up at her.

“Can’t I just stay here? At least until As—until father calms down?”

“Mother is worried for you, ‘Relia. She wants you to see with your own eyes that the damage you caused was not so severe.” Aefir pauses for a moment, considering her words carefully. “And she wants to talk with you, so maybe we can figure out why your magic is so…volatile.”

Aurelia had nothing to say to that. He hoped it meant he could take a trip with his mother to those fancy elvish libraries in the settlement nearby, but the hurdle he had to overcome before getting to that possibility seemed daunting. It meant he had to face his village again.

“It won’t do to hide away from everyone,” Aefir said. “Just because you’re different doesn’t mean you should isolate yourself. We are all different, Aurelia. And we must take pride in that.”

Aefir let go of Aurelia then, slipping down the tree and landing perfectly on her feet. She gazed up at him expectantly, her red eyes seeming to catch starlight where there was none. She lifted a hand to him as if to say,  _ come along, I’ll help you down. _

Aurelia flopped out of the branches himself, but came to stand by her side, wearing a small smile.

“Perhaps you’re right.”

Aefir laughed, like how he imagined Eilastraee might laugh, full of mirth and some unknowable wisdom.

“Little brother, I am always right!”


End file.
